Aircraft Trivia Quiz

OK,

Looking for an aircraft.  Only 2 of this aircraft were ever built.  The design process took more than ten years from beginning until the aircraft first flew.  The plane was originally designed to counter an "enemy" threat that was brand new when design first started, but the "threat" used a different weapon by the time this plane took to the air.  It had a very unique planned capability--in fact there is no other plane in the world that I know of that was designed to take off the way this one was, and do what it was to do.  A specific piece of equipment that was needed for this uncommon take-off was never supplied, and so the prototypes never did get to test the plan.  Today, one of them still exists, partially.

I want to say the Lockheed XFV "Pogo Stick". 

The unusual take-off was it stood on its tail and took off vertically.

Somehow i get the feeling this is wrong though. Some of the details dont add up. Oh well, got this bumped.

Nope, thats not it.  This particular aircraft had a unique combination of characteristics put together, it wasnt just one thing.  I will say that the design was supposed to be a VTOL-capable aircraft, but there was something else that, combined with that, make for one very interesting concept.

Goblin?

Dunno if it was the goblin, goblin was a parasite fighter. If i remember rightly it never had any landing gear, therefore no VTOL.

No, it wasnt the Goblin--for one thing, the Goblin was not the only aircraft to have flown the way it did.  If I recall right, there were other aircraft that were modified to test the trapeze system, like the YRF-84F, and the 25 RF-84K's that were modified for this purpose.  The aircraft I am looking for, as far as I can find, was the only aircraft that was built to use VTOL under these conditions.  Also, it was designed to fly two very different flight profiles right from the outset. 

Did it have a direct connection to the ZELMAL project?

X-13 vertijet

No, it wasnt with the ZELMAL project, wrong country.  And it wasnt the X-13 either.  Look at the description again--the plane was designed to be capable of VTOL and conventional flight, but a piece of hardware that was required for the VTOL to work was never delivered, so the plane never did end up having VTOL ability.  Had the piece of hardware been available as planned, it would have.  This was a very unique plane in all aspects, even down to the layout of the engines.  Also, I have never seen a plane with so many engines on it....never....

The Balzac Mirage?

The Dassault Mirage IIIV had 8 engines only two planes made, only one survivor but doesnt meet the other requirement. 

Dornier DO-31?  It had 10 engines, but 3 were made, all of whom are on display, and it did achieve vertical lift off - which I guess means I'm wrong!

I was about to say the vz-9 avrocar until i found the vought xf5u

I'll probably kick myself when the answer is out, but I can't think of anything that matches - VTOL experimental, parasite's, ZLL's, Ekranoplan's, Coleopter's.................. nothing.......

Good guesses, but none of those are correct.  Trying to think of what else I can say that wont be too much of a giveaway.....The design was supposed to have four times the number of engines that the prototypes actually ended up flying with. 

EDIT--made a mistake.  It was designed to have EIGHT times the number of engines that the prototype actually flew with.  There were two elements of the design that required those other engines, and one of them was for VTOL.  The other was for artificial lift--not for thrust, but to create lift by pushing a bunch of airflow under the wing.  One of the prototypes may have had the artificial lift stuff installed, not sure.  but I know that the VTOL  hardware was never installed....this is one big, ugly beast.  I will also say this, for any of you video game fans out there, a more recent game in a very popular shooter game series did feature this plane in it, thought it was probably called something else, the physical appearance of this plane cannot be mistaken with really anything else.  You'll have to ask Solid Snake for more info on that one...

This has stumped me.  Was thinking the SNECMA Coleoptere too.

Short SC.1? Maybe Do 31, it had 10 engines, but 3 were built and I can't find much on the other criteria.. My last guess is the Rotary Rocket Roton C-9, with 72 engines, and they had some engine difficulty. They went bankrupt in 2001

wow, I thought this would be a good one but I figured someone would have gotten it by now.  The plane was designed to carry no less than 16 engines, that might help a bit

Bartini Beriev VVA-14!!!!!!!!

Very interesting aircraft!

pzl66

Bartini Beriev VVA-14!!!!!!!!

Very interesting aircraft!

 

We have a winner! 

The design first began in 1959 on this massive beast.  Here's the list--it was an amphibian, that was designed to fly at high altitudes and ALSO fly as a WIG aircraft like the Ekranoplan.  And it was supposed to be VTOL capable, from water!  The thing had a pair of jet engines on the top of the fuselage, a second pair was supposed to be mounted further forward, under the wings.  And then, there were to be 12 lift engines installed as well, for a total of 16 jet engines.  It was designed to be an anti-submarine warfare plane, specifically built to go after the US Navy's ballistic missile submarines.  Here's a couple of pics:

Here is what it looks like today, minus the wings, at Monino museum in Russia:

Nice video of the Bartini Beriev VVA-14 on YouTube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhczg44inf0

I just saw that my pics didnt work....lets try this...i found a model kit of this aircraft, and there's a bonus:

http://www.anigrand.com/AA4044_VVA-14.htm

It's a resin kit, 1/144 scale.  But it comes with a surprise--three other 1/144 scale models in the same box, one of a Russian helicopter and two of twin engine aircraft.  One of the twins looks to me like an Il-28 Beagle bomber.  Kinda pricey though for this scale.

Do a search for this plane in google and you can see what it looks like at Monino today.  Quite a strange bird....

Ok so now I make one? 

This plane was engineering wise, ahead of its time. Very aerodynamic to the extent that even its fuselage gave it lift when performing knife edge turns it would not loose altitude. It set a world speed record of it time. Only two versions were made and none of the originals exist today.

Bernard SIMB V.2?

Scorpiomikey

 

Bernard SIMB V.2?

 

 

No but you are off to a good start! There were two separate versions made of the plane I'm looking for. Also the fuselage could almost be considered as a lifting body.

By two separate versions I mean two different ones made at the same time. Both flying in the same time frame.

Fairey Delta 2, one of which was remade as the BAC 221?

Not a jet, the fuselage was very unique which was found to be like a airfoil when it flew. Two different planes were made which when both were crashed were built into one modified one which also crashed so no originals exist today.

DFW T.28 Floh?

Not quite that unique of a fuselage.

This plane is still famous to this day, set a world speed record, had a twin, both originals do not exist today. Its fuselage was an engineering ahead of its time in that it acted like an airfoil providing lift which is why when it would perform knife edge turns it would not loose altitude. And not a jet......